TEMPE, Ariz. — The City of Tempe wants to examine whether to extend its new streetcar route further east into neighboring Mesa.
On Thursday, the Tempe City Council agreed to spend $1.2 million for Valley Metro's consultants to study the feasibility of expanding the East Valley streetcar further into Mesa.
The City of Mesa will contribute $800,000 toward the study.
The Tempe streetcar cost millions to construct and started operating last year on a 14-stop route that moves around the ASU campus.
Over 8.3 million rides were taken on Valley Metro's light rail and streetcar routes in 2022, data shows. Ridership shrunk dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has recently begun to increase again within the last year.
Valley Metro's study will identify how to potentially extend the streetcar east along Rio Salado Parkway and then south on Dobson Road.
A previous study identified Rio Salado Parkway as one of the best corridors in this area to implement a streetcar service due to its "high potential" for future ridership.
"(There's) no existing transit service or transit market along the entire route of this corridor," Valley Metro wrote in its 2020 study.
The new study focusing on Mesa is projected to take several months to complete and will include providing a preliminary capital cost estimate for building out the proposed project.
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